Developing a proper golf swing is crucial in developing a successful golf game. Various training aids have been developed to aid golfers in improving their golf swing, but these prior art teaching aids have not adequately or successfully addressed a crucial point in the breakdown of the golf swing. As discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,565, issued May 19, 1987, one important aspect in the golf swing is maintaining a firm grip about the golf club throughout the golfer's backswing.
There is, however, a tendency in many golfers to temporarily release the grip about the golf club during the golfer's backswing and then to regrip the golf club during the downswing. Several problems tend to result from improperly breaking the golf grip. First, the golf club tends to rotate slightly in the hands as the golf grip is released, causing the golf club to become improperly orientated with relation to the golf ball being struck. Likewise, separation of the hands also tends to cause a golfer to take a longer backswing which results in a less controlled golf swing. In addition, the breakage of the hands during the swing interferes with the proper weight shift that should occcur during the swing, and in particular, causes the left side of the golfer (for a right-handed golfer) to break down during club impact with the golf ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,565, issued May 19, 1987, attempts to solve this problem of the hands breaking during the golf swing through the use of a pair of golf gloves designed to lock the golfer's hands together about the golf club. In order to lock the golfer's hands together to prevent the golfer from breaking his grip, the gloves disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,565 have VELCRO.RTM. fasteners located on numerous locations about both gloves. As with other prior art, the inventor of U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,565 approaches the problem of the breakage of the hands during the golf swing by designing a product to prevent the golfer's hands from coming apart during the swing.
Various other patents have disclosed devices for locking the hands together. U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,075, issued Jun. 21, 1988, for instance, teaches a training type glove that interlocks the golfer's hands to help prevent and tactically indicate the breakage of the golfer's hands during the golf swing. Still another example of the prior art for locking a golfer's hands together is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,852,779, issued Sep. 23, 1958, which discloses a device having a strip for holding the grip portion of a golf club against the player's hand. U.S. Pat. No. 3,725,957, issued Apr. 10, 1973, discloses a single glove structure for both hands which locks the two hands together about a golf-club handle.
Other golf training devices have been used to address other aspects of the golf swing. For instance, to overcome sway in the golf swing, U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,364, issued Oct. 12, 1976, discloses a device which audibly signals to a golfer when the golfer has reached the peak of his backswing.
The prior art, since at least as 1958, has attempted to solve the problem of the breakage of the grip during the backswing by locking the hands together or onto the golf club. These prior art devices all teach a training aid for physically locking the golfer's hands together or on to the club in order to prevent the golfer from separating his hands during the backswing. The problem with these devices for physically locking the hands together is that these training aids are often uncomfortable to play with and also do not account for the numerous grips that individual golfers may assume. In addition, these golf training aids may make it difficult for a golfer to grip the golf-club handle with his individualized golf grip and then to make adjustments in the golf grip.